That was the year that was.

And I suppose that this is the year that will be. Until we reach 2007, in which case it will become the year that has been.

Speaking of has-been (and how's that for circular), I wanted to take advantage of the new-year to link back to a few favorite posts and to recap the statistics for the site. In eighteen months, or thereabouts, there have been 433 posts, 1550 comments (about a third of which are me replying to people) and 114 known trackbacks. Assembled into a Word document, those 433 posts add up to over 500 single-spaced pages of 10 point Times New Roman, or about 286,000 words. That's a lot, considering that this little endeavor makes me exactly zero dollars. I should really get a hobby that makes me some money, like crochet or restoring vintage hot rods. But, then, as I tell people, I do it for my sanity.

At any rate, for posterity, The Compleat Imagethief, through the end of 2005, is here (1MB zipped Word file), with all images and active links. I don't actually expect you to download the goddamned thing. It's here mostly because I wanted to assemble an archive in case a meteor takes out the server where this blog lives.

Visitor Stats
Imagethief gets from 300-400 unique visitors a day (with some weekly and seasonal variation) and 500-700 page views a day. That's small beans compared to many blogs, but makes me happy. Each post also gets about 150 aggregator/newsreader hits not included in the stats above. As of the end of the year there were about 61,000 visits and 122,000 total page views, tracking since late March, 2005. There is a Site Meter counter at the bottom of the page if you wish to see the stats. I reckon there are about 200 hardcore readers and another couple of hundred or so occasional readers, with many of the remaining page views coming from search returns, as I seem to have moved up in the Google rankings. About 10 people account for 90% of the comments. You know who you are, and I am grateful for your active participation. Most of my trackbacks have come from Simon World, Asiapundit, Peking Duck, and The Horse's Mouth, with honorable mention for Friskodude, Beijing Lives, Bingfeng Teahouse, ESWN and Danwei. Several others have given me two or three shouts over the year, or blogrolled me, and I appreciate every one.

I note an interesting split in the readership. PR oriented posts tend to do better in aggregator/newsreader views and humor posts in casual views. Make of that what you will.

History and Focus
Imagethief began in June, 2004. Initially it was a travelogue of my experiences as a language student in Beijing (putting it in the company of about one million similar blogs). It atrophied between September, 2004 and March 2005, after I started working in Beijing. It re-emerged in its present incarnation, as the confessions of an American spin doctor in Beijing, in late March 2005. 90 percent of the posts and vritually the entire readership have come since then.

This blog is still, in ways, a travelogue of my life in Beijing. But if I had to explain what makes Imagethief different (besides my goofy wit), the answer would be a focus on how China is represented in the International media and a good deal of comment on practicing the art of PR in China.

The blog is not named for PR, it is named for another one of my hobbies, photography. I have made the odd coin as an underwater photographer, and photography is still a hobby I enjoy a great deal. I'm a better writer than photographer, though, which is why I work in PR and not, for instance, photographing women in lingerie (well, except for Mrs. Imagethief). Plus, when you bring an underwater camera to a lingerie shoot, people think you are into some pretty wierd stuff.

Top Ten Posts of 2005 - By Page Views
Not including a couple of ringer posts that lit up Google (see below) or aggregator/newsreader viewings. Page views as of January 1, 2005. You'll note that the list is stacked toward the latter part of the year. I attribute that to two things. First, I am aging like fine wine. Second, my readership has steadily increased throughout the year. Plus, arguably, I was on fire in November for some reason.

 Weekend PR Blog: The Harbin Water Crisis
(November 26, 2005. 949 views.)
My analysis of the government's response to the Harbin-Songhua River benzene crisis.

Are PR and MNCs Corrupting Chinese Media?
(November 1, 2005. 877 views.)
My response to a post of Bingfeng's, getting into some detail as to how PR works in China and defending my industry.

Shock confession: former Asian-woman fetishist speaks out
(April 30, 2005. 781 views.)
Poking fun at the stereotyping of Asian women, via my Singaporean wife.

How to Write a Generic China Bird Flu Story
(November 8, 2005. 751 views.)
Ridiculing the Western media's formulaic coverage of the bird flu situation in China.

A scholarly analysis of the economics of PR in China
(March 6, 2005. 733 views.)
The first post of mine that Danwei linked to, and the one that, more than any other, re-launched Imagethief.

Sanitized For My Protection: Imagethief's Self-Censorship Policy Explained
(June 4, 2005. 688 views.)
An explanation of why I self-censor my blog in some ways, and an analysis of how I do it.

Van Nguyen Died For Your Sins: Executions as Public Communication
(December 1, 2005. 685 views.)
How the Australians misread Singapore's application of the death penalty and virtually ensured Van Nguyen's execution.

Thursday PR Blog: American Internet Firms in Chinese Peril
(November 2, 2005. 673 views.)
How American Internet firms are failing in China. An idea inspired by my friend, technology journalist Sumner Lemon.

How You Can Tell the Seasons are Turning in Beijing
(October 2, 2005. 666 views.)
Chinese girls in boots. Yum.

The Great Donkey Meat - Tiger Piss - Media Whore Axis
(September 8, 2005. 537 views.)
Nasty Chinese cuisine meets outright fraud.

11 More Personal Favorites From 2006
Because of the late-year bias in the reader favorites, I've also listed some of my personal favorites. I didn't have the discipline to stick to ten, so you get a bonus nomination.

Beijing Needs a Giant Monster Attack
(December 18, 2005)
Why Beijing is not a great city yet.

Chinese Restaurant Calculation Made Easy
(December 17, 2005)
A foolproof way to always order just the right amount of food in a Chinese restaurant.

I am Beijing's Decadent Man-Bitch
(December 13, 2005)
What does it feel like to live in Beijing?

Imagethief and the Spectral Tiger: A Dongbei Travelogue
(Oct 23, 2005)
How I went to Qiqihaer and narrowly avoided death-by-mosquito.

How to Survive a Chinese Drinking Party
(Oct 12, 2005)
Information you need to know if you want to emerge with a working central nervous system.

Dark Table-Tennis Match of the Soul
(Aug 22, 2005)
How a Chinese girl who would weigh forty kilos soaking wet kicked my ass six ways from Sunday.

Why I Empathize With the WSJ's American Expats in Chongqing
(Aug 4, 2005)
The Wall Street Journal published an article about an expatriate American family having a miserable time in Chongqing. The family caught a lot of flack in the blogosphere. Imagethief went to bat for them. The most commented article on Imagethief, with 27 comments.

Why I Love Chinese Domestic Air Travel
(June 16, 2005)
Really not all that bad, but so easy to make fun of.

Do Expat Bloggers Belittle China?
(June 13, 2005)
Many Chinese bloggers and commenters think foreign bloggers hate China. If they stopped and thought for a second, they'd realize that's not true.

Democracy in China at Last: Blue Castle Votes to Exclude the Riff Raff
(June 11, 2005)
How my apartment building democratically decided it was too good for neighborhood aunties.

Tiny and Xiao Xiong's Bogus Journey
(Jan 16, 2005)
How I smuggled two kitty cats into China. A cautionary tale.

Classic Imagethief
I know, a pompous label. But here are a few of my favorite posts from the first incarnation of Imagethief, in 2004. Most of the posts from those days are the usual, fresh in Beijing, "gawrsh!" articles. But a few stand out.

So you want to study Chinese in Beijing…
(October 2, 2004)
One of the most popular old posts. My in-depth review of Worldlink Education, the language program I attended. Brutally honest.

The Standard Issue Chairman Mao
(August 6, 2004)
My god! That's the same Mao statue as in this old photo. Er, no it's not.

My Career in Chinese Showbiz is Launched!
(July 25, 2004)
How I pitched dodgy, Chinese virility tonics on television.

I Avoid the Beggars
(July 9, 2004)
How do you rationalize not giving 12 cents to a destitute man?

Nothing Here Is In English
(June 12, 2004)
The very first Imagethief post. Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, etc.

Ringers
These are posts that racked up a lot of page views because they scored high on Google among certain, deviant populations. One is, by an order of magnitude, the most viewed post on this blog.

The Dongbei Discovers N*de Wedding Photos
(November 22, 2005. 1013 views.)
Not half as interesting as it sounds. A lot of people are googling "n*de wedding photo" and "china".

The Secret to Better China-Japan Relations: An 11-Year-Old Pinup Girl
(May 22, 2005. 9240 views.)
And almost 500 aggregator and newsreader views. One out of every thirteen page views on this site has gone to this post, thanks to the popularity of mammoth-bre@sted, Japanese sex-nymphette, S@yaa Ir!e.

One of Those Odd China Moments...
(July 28, 2005)
A throwaway post, but a historical oddity. The height of the saga of "Really", the one and only troll this blog has ever had (since banned). A suitably incandescent comment thread.

Imagethief Comment Policy
Apropos of the above link, I'd like to do something I've not done before: articulate this site's comment policy.

In general, this site welcomes all comments. Comments are not moderated (although there is a slight delay before they publish), and I welcome all points of view. Readers are encouraged to post their own thoughts and opinions, and to disagree with my point of view, if they wish.

There are, however, limits. Imagethief is a supporter of free speech. That means you have every right to a blog, and I support your freedom to post whatever you want on it. But you don't necessarily have a right to this blog. No right to publish is granted, and all comments remain online at my discretion. The following things will not be tolerated because they degrade the experience for other Imagethief readers:

1) No ad hominem attacks on me, other commenters or, especially, my wife (that's what got the last troll banned). Disagree and argue if you like, but no insults or personal attacks.

2) No soap-boxing on unrelated topics. I went through a phase where I was getting wierd, random comments on Tibet, the incorrect thought of American politicians, and so-on. While comment threads are welcome to diverge into different topics, left-field editorializing that bears no relation to the topic at hand will be deleted. Get your own blog, or e-mail me (see below).

3) No advertisements or comment-spam. Need I explain this any further?

And that's it. I encourage comments and invite all readers to get involved in the discussion. Comments bring a site to life, and really enjoy reading them. I also extend my thanks to Dave, Bob, Hose-B, Shanghai Slim, Froog, Gordon, Myrick, Derrick, Dishuiguanyin and the other regular and semi-regular commenters who have dipped in. Readers who want to feed-back to me privately can use the "Contact" link at the upper-left of every page. This does, in fact, reach me, and I will respect all requests for anonymity or privacy (although, in the absence of any such request, may republish or comment on your mail).

Thanks for reading Imagethief.

-Will

Updated: To correct and expand some of the statistics.